


The Art of Subtlety

by TheCourtSorcerer



Series: Merthur Drabbles & One Shots [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: (Why isnt that a tag-‐that should be a tag), Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Bets, Bets & Wagers, Canon Era, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gossip, Implied Gwaine/Percival - Freeform, It's Not Important or openly stated but they do, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Like very minorly implied, M/M, No Beta, Pouty Gwaine, Secret Lovers, Secret Relationship, Tavern Night, The Knights Know About Merlin's Magic, Unbeta'd, grumpy Gwaine, non-canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28259124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCourtSorcerer/pseuds/TheCourtSorcerer
Summary: "I overheard Sir Leon and Sir Gwaine having the most interesting conversation in the corridor…” The warlock began, carefully pulling off Arthur’s tunic as he spoke, “apparently, the knights have abetgoing on.”“A bet?”“Indeed, a bet.”---Or---Merlin discovers the knights have a bet going on, andnaturallyhe decides he needs to tell the King.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Merthur Drabbles & One Shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052750
Comments: 35
Kudos: 676
Collections: Merthur Fics





	1. Chapter 1

“I heard the most interesting thing today, sire,” Merlin hummed as he slipped into Arthur’s chambers one evening.

“Oh, yes? What have you heard?” Arthur raised an eyebrow at him, “More gossip from the laundresses?”

Merlin bit back a smirk as he walked to the wardrobe, taking out a clean pair of night clothes for the king. He stayed quiet until he’d set the clothes out on Arthur’s bed and walked over to where he was now standing to be undressed.

“Actually, from the knights. I overheard Sir Leon and Sir Gwaine having the most interesting conversation in the corridor…” The warlock began, carefully pulling off Arthur’s tunic as he spoke, “apparently, the knights have a _bet_ going on.”

“A bet?”

“Indeed, a bet.”

Arthur frowned and Merlin stepped back with a smirk, staring at the shirtless king. “What kind of bet? Why have I not been involved? If _Leon_ can join in, surely I can as well.”

“Well, you see, my lord,” Merlin tilted his head at him curiously, “the bet seems to be about _us.”_

“About us?”

“Indeed, about us.”

“What about us?” Merlin could tell Arthur was growing frustrated by Merlin dancing around the point, so with a wicked grin he shrugged and glanced around.

He pretended to be looking for any listeners, even though they were in the safe privacy of Arthur’s chambers, then he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “now, you didn’t hear it from me, _but_ …”

A rush of amusement jumped through him when Arthur leaned in with wide eyes, expecting something serious and juicy. He leaned back, prompting Arthur to quickly do the same in obvious hopes his lean wasn’t noticeable.

“Apparently,” he finally continued, right as Arthur opened his mouth surely to tell him to hurry it up, “Gwaine has started a bet among your ever-loyal knights concerning when we will, and I quote him here, ‘ _get our heads out of our asses and see we’re madly in love with each other_ ’.”

Arthur’s jaw dropped at his words. “You’re _kidding?”_ He gasped, eyes wide and wearing an expression of what appeared to be a strange mix of horror and amusement.

“Oh, I wish I was!” Merlin snorted, “I heard them discussing the pool on my way up!”

“And here I thought we were being subtle…” The king frowned a bit, though the glee in his eyes betrayed him. Merlin sighed and stepped forward before snaking his arms around Arthur’s waist slowly.

“For once, I agree. Quite a shame we’ve been so obvious…”

Arthur nodded, raising his arms to wrap them around his lovers’ neck loosely. “I wonder who else suspects us, aside from the knights… Gods, the laundresses are probably gossiping about us as we speak—!”

“Oh, they _most definitely_ are!” Merlin huffed out a laugh, “but, onto more important matters…”

“More important than the court gossiping about what we do in bed?”

Merlin leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Arthur’s lips, the latter humming softly in response. “ _Way_ more important than the court whispering about what we do in bed,” he murmured as he pulled away to make eye contact.

Curious, Arthur raised an eyebrow in an eerily accurate mirror of Gaius. “Well, out with it then, _Mer_ lin. What are these important matters?”

A moment of anticipatory, dramatic silence passed as the warlock grinned widely at his king. Then, he spoke the words that had Arthur rolling his eyes so hard he’d feel it for a week.

“Who, _fy brenin_ , do we want to win the bet?”

Arthur didn’t even have to think for a second before responding,

“ _Anyone_ but Gwaine.”


	2. The Aftermath (Tavern [K]night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sennight after discovering the bet™ Arthur & Merlin find themselves at Tavern Night with the others, where they [very subtly] reveal their relationship for their winner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys. 
> 
> _~~TCS sighed, long and tired~~_
> 
> I just—oh my gods I hate mathematics, and hope I never have to take another mathematics course again after my current one I just began. It sucks and I hate it and —
> 
>  _A n y w a y_ onto the stuff about the actual fic...
> 
> So, I just wanna say thanks to DrkValkyrie for the idea for this addition, because without it I probably wouldn't have written this and I really wanted to add a second part! So, thank you for the idea, I was very eager to get this written, and I hope you like what I've done with it! 
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted! I got side tracked and then busy and then couldn't think of how to start it and then—yeah, but it's here now! I hope you all like it! 
> 
> ~~sorry if its not what you were expecting, writing smug Leon was surprisingly difficult~~

The first thing Merlin saw when he entered the tavern with Arthur at his side, was Gwaine’s absolutely crestfallen expression as he stared at where their hands were joined. He almost looked sad enough for the warlock to want to call it off and tell him they knew about the bet. Almost. When he saw him reluctantly nudge the rest of knights before tossing a small pouch of (presumably) coins a bit roughly towards Leon (who looked just startled, until he caught sight of the lovers and recognition lit his face), though, all sympathy was lost. It was his fault for making the bet in the first place! And for discussing it so openly, where anyone (like Merlin himself) could hear.

Merlin silently nodded to himself, ignoring the strange look it got from Arthur, and led the King to the table their friends sat at, already drinking.

“Merlin. Arthur.” Gwaine nodded in greeting to them, before taking a large swallow of mead, obviously sulking over his loss. “Is there something you’d like to tell us?”

With that, all the knights turned and looked at the pair expectantly. Merlin chuckled quietly and glanced to Arthur, who he saw was rolling his eyes so hard it must've hurt for all to see. “Gwaine, do you think us blind? We saw you all tossing Leon his winnings the moment you saw us walk in, don’t act as if you don’t already know. I can’t believe you all would bet on us.”

The knights all shared a few looks, and Leon, Percival, and Lancelot at least had the decency to look apologetic. Gwaine just huffed and took another large drink.

“What was the bet, anyway? How’d Leon win?” Merlin asked, putting on his best innocent face. “Gwaine?”

“… We had a bet to see when you two’d finally stop dancing around each other and admit how you feel,” Gwaine told them after a moment of pouting at the reminder of his loss, “Leon bet it’d happen sometime this week.”

“And you didn’t?” Arthur raised an eyebrow, accepting a tankard of mead from Elyan when it was offered.

“Clearly.” Gwaine muttered, leaning a bit into Percival, who sat directly beside him. The large man sighed and patted Gwaine on the head.

“He said it’d take another fortnight,” he explained when Gwaine offered no more. “’s got little faith in your…romantic capabilities…Sire.”

Merlin snorted in amusement as Arthur bristled at the comment. “ _He_ has little faith in _my_ romantic capabilities?! Oh, like _I’m_ the one who’s bedded half the castle staff! I’ll have you know I am a very romantic man.”

“And we don’t doubt that for a moment, Arthur,” Leon suddenly said, seeming to try and play peacekeeper all while fighting away the smug grin that had been threatening to show since he won. “You’re just not the most—well, you’re not the most observant person in the kingdom.”

“So, Gwaine here thought it would take longer for you two to get together,” Lancelot concluded, shooting his pouting friend a sympathetic grin, “and he’s not the only one. In all honesty, I figured it’d take _longer_ than a fortnight.”

Merlin crossed his arms at this, looking at his friend with a face of well-faked betrayal. “You have so little faith in me, Lancelot?”

“No, no! I just—”

“Relax,” Merlin laughed, cutting off the frantic knight, “I’m messing with you. I realize it took us an… Unbelievable amount of time to realize what was right in front of us for years.”

“Damn right it did!” Gwaine piped up, seemingly back to himself until adding on quieter, like a petulant child who’s had his favourite toy stolen, “but not _long enough_.”

Merlin held back a laugh at his friend’s childish behavior, feeling a small pinch of guilt, but not enough to want to come clean. It was a little amusing to watch, Gwaine pouting like the tavern owner themself cut him off, and Leon smug as a lion with a fresh catch all to himself…

He did feel bad for lying so readily to his friend after swearing it off, but really… He did start a bet about his love life behind Merlin’s back. A little revenge never hurt anyone, right? …Don’t answer that.

“One more week. You couldn’t have waited one more week?” Gwaine lamented as he finished off his tankard. “You were so damn _oblivious_ before, and once I actually depend on it you finally get a clue!”

Merlin shared a guilty glance with Arthur at this. Merlin opened his mouth to say something, (though he wasn’t really sure what, maybe an apology?) when Elyan suddenly spoke up.

“Wait… How did you know what we were handing over to Leon was winnings from a bet?” He questioned, raising a suspicious eyebrow at the lovers seated together.

Arthur cleared his throat and took a long drink of mead at the question, and Merlin shifted awkwardly, looking about everywhere but the knights. Gwaine seemed to perk up at this change in atmosphere.

“Yeah…. How _did_ you know?” He asked, leaning against the table rather than the knight beside him now.

Before either could answer, Leon—thank the Goddess for that blessed man—came to their rescue. “Well, Gwaine, they did enter the Tavern hand in hand, and the first thing you lot did when eye contact was exchanged was toss your money my way, very reluctantly might I add. I’m not sure what assumption you would have made from that, but you weren’t exactly subtle.”

Gwaine shot Leon a small glare, but the man continued. “In fact, you were about as subtle as Merlin with his magic. Not that I’m complaining, I did win after all. Not much for me to complain about, not that I would anyway, nor would I pout like some may.”

Merlin let out an indignant: “Hey!” for the jab at his subtlety at the same Gwaine exclaimed,

“I am _not_ pouting!” Then, when met with silence and a whole lot of raised eyebrows, he huffed and muttered with a pointed look at Leon, “Well at least I’m not a braggart like _some_.”

“Gwaine… If you had won, you would be on this table dancing in victory right now.” Was Leon’s only reply, confirmed by a series of nods and yeah’s from the rest of their group.

Gwaine muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like a rather insulting curse, and snatched Percival’s drink for himself. Merlin watched the exchange, biting his lip gently, before leaning closer to Arthur.

“Maybe we should tell them…” He whispered, the smallest of frowns gracing his features. Arthur looked to his sorcerer and sighed.

“Perhaps we should…” He agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly.

“Perhaps you should what?” Lancelot tilted his head in curiosity, looking back and forth between Arthur and Merlin as if trying to determine if he had missed something important. His question brought all attention from Gwaine and Leon, back to the two of them, who shifted guiltily in their spots.

“Perhaps we should tell you that ah… Merlin?” Arthur looked to the brunet for help, who groaned softly at the realization he’d have to be the one to break the news. Gwaine was going to kill them, treason or not. Laws be damned.

The knights stared at them expectantly, most of all Gwaine, as if he _knew_ what they were about to say. Merlin hesitated.

“Yes, well, um. Arthur and I—well,” he began, chuckling nervously as he looked at anyone but Gwaine, “We have sort of, kind of, possibly, _definitely_ been together since…well, since spring.”

The admission was met with silence from their friends, who seemed to be in processing mode. So, Merlin decided to just throw on the rest of it.

“And we knew about the bet. I heard you—Gwaine—and Leon talking about it last week in the corridor on my way to Arthur’s room,” he confessed, “We, ah… We rigged the bet so Leon would win when we found out about it… As revenge for starting a bet about our romantic lives.”

Merlin saw Arthur cringe out of the corner of his eyes. “It sounds a bit harsher when you say it out loud like that, Merlin. Really, it was meant to just be a bit of good fun, we didn’t realize you’d be so distraught by losing.”

Gwaine didn’t reply. He just started at the two, slack-jawed, as if they had just confessed to murder. In the end, it was Leon who broke the silence.

“Wait, so… I _didn’t_ actually win?” he asked with an almost unnoticeable frown. Merlin noticed it, though, and winced slightly as he nodded.

“Sorry, Leon,” Arthur grinned apologetically at his old friend, seeming to genuinely feel a little bad for lying to him.

The man just sighed and shook his head. “It’s alright, Sire. I suppose this is my punishment for getting involved in such things.” He began to pass everyone their money back, handing Gwaine his last with a genuinely remorseful smile. Gwaine accepted his bag of coin back with a nod to his fellow knight and went back to leaning against Percival, who looked to the King and his lover curiously.

“So, if Leon didn’t win, and Gwaine didn’t win, who did?” Gwaine seemed to perk up a bit at his question, tilting his head as he asked,

“Yeah, who _did_ win? None of us anticipated you’d already be together, did we?”

Merlin and Arthur shrugged, and the knights went into thought trying to remember everyone’s guesses. It wasn’t until a few moments later, one of them suddenly groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

“One of us did…” Elyan muttered into his palms.

All eyes were on Elyan, and Merlin felt Arthur sit up straighter in anticipation. “Well? Who was it? Who won, then?” The King pushed, almost appearing more eager to find out than those who actually had money on the matter. Then again, Merlin could see why. He too was very curious who had figured them out.

Elyan took a deep breath, letting his hands fall back to the table before looking to the men around him with the most face of an utterly defeated sibling. From his face alone, Merlin found he wasn’t surprised in the least to hear the name that came out of his mouth.

_“Gwen.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this little addition!
> 
> On another note, I'm finally almost finished with the 4+1 fic I am writing for Merlin & Arthur! It has taken me way to long to write for how short it is, but I'm nearly done!! Then I can start all my other ones I have planned~ 
> 
> ~~  
> _Imayormaynothaveamerman!merlinficplannedtostartinthenearfuture_  
> ~~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


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